egrand1508
Well-Known Member
But, if these cars really have an IL salvage certificate then he doesn't have the right to sell them. And, unless you are a licensed rebuilder in IL, you don't have the right to walk into this state and buy them. It is ILLEGAL, period. Since you probably didn't read the links I put in my earlier post I'll copy here an important part of the last link, which is from Illinois Compiled Statutes Chapter 625, Sec. 5/3-117.1.C:
"Any person who without authority acquires, sells, exchanges,
gives away, transfers or destroys, or offers to acquire, sell, exchange,
give away, transfer or destroy the certificate of title to any
vehicle which is a junk or salvage vehicle shall be guilty of a Class 3
gives away, transfers or destroys, or offers to acquire, sell, exchange,
give away, transfer or destroy the certificate of title to any
vehicle which is a junk or salvage vehicle shall be guilty of a Class 3
felony."
For the record, a class 3 felony in IL is punishable by 2-5 years in prison, and/or $25,000 in fines.
Whether you like it or not, whether it is legal in another state or not, or whether you know someone who got away with it or not; it isn't legal in IL. You can't dispute that. You seem to think you can just take the salvage certificate to your PA department and register it and get a clear title. I doubt very much that you could. PA isn't going to give you a title on an IL salvage certificate without first clearing it through IL. And, even if you could somehow finagle a way to get a clear title in spite of IL law, that is called title washing and I'm willing to bet that is illegal in PA too, if not a federal law. Even if it isn't illegal, title washing is just plain wrong. And, you seem to suggest you just won't register it and will never sell it. How can you get insurance for it? Doesn't PA have mandatory insurance? You can bet the insurance company is going to do a title search and find out it is a salvage car in Illinois. What happens when you die? Your wife and kids will have to sell it or have the title put in their names.
Suppose even knowing these things, you decide to buy one of those cars anyway. I sure wouldn't want to be stopped on the side of the road trying to explain to an Illinois trooper or sheriff deputy why I had a salvage car on my trailer and was getting ready to take it out of state. Ok, so that may not be likely to happen. Maybe it is a 1 in 100 chance of happening. Prisons are full of people who had a 99% chance of getting away with it. Ok, maybe you wouldn't get 2-5 years. With a first time offender, non-violent crime, good behavior, etc. you might only get six months. You said your family and job are important to you. Do you really want to risk not seeing your family for six month and loosing your job for one of these cars?
Consider this too: what if the seller gets caught? I would bet that is pretty likely. From these other posts he has obviously PO'd a bunch of people. Someone is going to turn him in. I can easily see him trading the names and addresses of who he sold cars to in return for a lighter sentence. Do you really want to have one of these cars, put a bunch of work and money into it, and maybe a year or two later have someone come along and seize it as part of the seller's plea bargain?
All I know is that I would never willingly break any law or go to jail for any car. Well, maybe I'd do six months for a brand new Bugatti Veyron or Aston-Martin DB9 :grin:. But I know I'd never do it for any rusty, engine-less B body car with no VIN plate.
